Armstrong: “Watching Claire Win Her Race Put a Little Pressure On Me” (Quotes From Day 3)

2024 WORLD AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• February 11th – February 18th
• Doha, Qatar
• LCM (50m)
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• Live Results (Omega)
• Day 1 Prelims Recap
• Day 1 Finals Recap

Day 3 of World Championships in Doha is in the book. We heard 5 national anthems in the Aspire Dome, and 2 of them were the same, the Star-Spangled Banner thanks to Claire Curzan and Hunter Armstrong in the women’s and men’s backstroke races. Italy won the first gold medal of this meet with Simona Quadarella and Korean Sunwoo Hwang confirm South Korea as the target for  200/400 free after the win of his teammate Kim Woomin (they train in the same pool).

Here are the voices from Day 3 of finals in Doha:

LUKE HOBSON (USA)

Bronze medallist in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:45.05

“It’s a lot better to be walking away with my first individual worlds medal and a great experience at this meet too. What I need to win I think is just being more prepared and just fine tuning the race strategy a little bit better. I don’t really think I did anything too wrong in that, but obviously I suffered little bit in the end, so a little bit of stuff to work on for me.  This meet fit in really well for me, back in the United States, I have conferences coming up, and then it goes from this into that and then trials and then hopefully Paris this summer. And honestly, I really enjoy racing and I think it’s just a great experience for me.”

SIMONA QUADARELLA (ITA)

Gold medallist in the 1500 freestyle in a time of 15:46.99

“I am very happy because I was undecided about whether to come to these World Championships or not, but I wanted to give myself the opportunity and it worked. The weather is also good, I am officially qualified for the Paris Olympics and that’s one less thing to worry about.”

CLAIRE CURZAN (USA) 

Gold medallist in the 100 backstroke in a time of 58.29

“I’m glad with how it went. I think I swam it appropriately and I’m happy with how I executed, despite it kind of being on a big stage, a lot of stakes with being seeded first and everything. So I’m just happy about the experience that I learned. And I think I’ll be able to use that experience just to apply it through the rest of my races.”

About swimming both butterfly and backstroke events here and at the Olympic Trials:

“I pretty much know what target events I want to swim at the Trials, but just more gaining experience with the prelims, semis and finals format since that’s very unique to this time of year. And…really just getting used to swimming that many times and how to progress through those appropriately.”

HUNTER ARMSTRONG (USA)

Gold medallist in the 100 backstroke men in a time of 52.68

“it’s incredibly special being able to watch Claire win the gold just before me. I had a little pressure because of that.

The US has always had a backstroke legacy. And I take a lot of pride in contributing to that. This race it’s definitely a testament to the United States of backstroke. So I’m proud to be a part of that. And. I have a couple relays to go before the 50 but my goals for this meet are simply just to do my best,  and get better every race, because this is still just a stepping stone on my way to Paris.

I don’t think any swimmer at our level is ever completely satisfied with their performance. There’s always something more that you can do and fix. I had a couple close encounters with that lane line throughout my race, but, I was able to get my hand on the wall first and take 1-2 with a really close friend of mine.”